Burma, America, The World, Art, Literature, Political Economy through the eyes of a Permanent Exile.
"We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the oppressed. Sometimes we must interfere. . . There is so much injustice and suffering crying out for our attention . . . writers and poets, prisoners in so many lands governed by the left and by the right." Elie Wiesel, Nobel Peace Prize Speech, 1986, Oslo.
This entire site copyright Kyi May Kaung unless indicated otherwise.

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Peace Rose, photograph Copyright Kyi May Kaung
Upcoming Burma election already not free or fair
Saturday, February 25, 2012 11:47 AM
--- On Sat, 2/25/12, free burma wrote:
From: free burma
Subject: Upcoming Burma election already not free or fair
To:
Date: Saturday, February 25, 2012, 11:35 AM
DICTATOR WATCH
(www.dictatorwatch.org)
Contact: Roland Watson, roland@dictatorwatch.org
UPCOMING BURMA ELECTION ALREADY NOT FREE OR FAIR
February 25, 2012
Please forward.
Burma is holding a by-election on April 1st for forty-eight seats in
Parliament (just over 10%). International observers view this as a
significant benchmark in the country’s supposed reform to democracy. Both
the U.S. and the E.U. have ended some of their sanctions, with the promise
that more will be eliminated if the election is free and fair.
The judgment of free and fair, however, does not apply only to what
happens on election day. It is the entire process that must be appraised,
starting with the freedom of the candidates to campaign and to speak their
mind. Considering the steps that the military-backed regime has thus far
taken, the upcoming election is already fatally flawed.
Election-specific actions
Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been campaigning throughout
Burma. On a number of occasions she has been denied permission to use
sports stadiums to hold rallies, with the result that she could not speak
freely to local constituencies.
Much more importantly, though, and which few commentators have noticed,
the regime continues to enforce the requirement (Union Election Committee
notification No. 91/2010, imposed in advance of the fraudulent 2010
national election) that speeches by candidates must be pre-approved, and
that they cannot “criticize the constitution, tarnish the image of the
state or the military, or harm security.” Among other provisions,
candidates have to anticipate the size of the crowds to which they will
speak, and take responsibility for them. It is not permitted to shout
slogans.
(Notification No. 91/2010 has also just been reinforced by an election
commission statement on February 17, which applies the same provisions to
radio and TV broadcasts.)
In late January Daw Suu did in fact criticize the 2008 Constitution, and
it was just after this that reminders of the requirement began to appear
in pro-regime media. A careful read of this notice makes it clear that
candidates cannot criticize or even comment upon, without fear of arrest
or being banned from the election, the most important issues facing the
country. It is notable that Daw Suu ceased talking about the Constitution
after the notification was publicized. (She changed her focus to “jobs.”)
It appears that she is censoring herself: Bending over backward so as not
to anger the regime.
Alternatively, she may have made a tactical retreat, and will speak
strongly on these subjects once in Parliament. Only time will tell. (It is
difficult to see, though, why the regime will become more tolerant.)
Regardless of what Daw Suu ultimately ends up doing, if the candidates do
not have freedom of speech, or freedom of assembly with voters, then the
election is neither free nor fair. It doers not matter what happens on
April 1st. The election is already discredited.
This is not the only condemnation that can be made. Even though there is
still a month to go, the regime has taken the following dishonest actions:
After free speech and freedom of assembly, probably the most important
factor for an election is freedom of the press. Notwithstanding some minor
changes in the application of current press laws, e.g., images of Daw Suu
can be shown, nothing material has changed. (Consideration of a new press
law has been postponed until after the election.) Burma has an extremely
repressive press environment. Journalists, like the candidates, are
forbidden from discussing the country’s most important problems, including
the Constitution, the on-going civil war and Burma Army atrocities, theft
of land from villagers and bribery and corruption in development projects,
etc.
And, along with the refusal to allow the use of sports stadiums, there is
a growing list of other types of “dirty tricks.” Pro-regime militia in
Shan State have ordered villagers to vote for the military party, the
USDP. In the Irrawaddy region, local officials have been warned that they
will be forced to resign if the USDP does not win. There are also reports
of similar threats in the Dawei area, as well as demands by government
officials there that the polls themselves be manipulated, i.e., rigged.
Considering all of this, and again with the proviso that there is still
one month to go, we can already conclude that the vote will not be free or
fair. While it might not be as openly fraudulent as the 2010 general
election, and while most if not all NLD candidates will probably win their
seats, the process by which this occurs will fail to meet democratic
standards.
However, the anti-sanctions crowd, starting with the E.U., will no doubt
ignore this and instead argue that since the NLD won that is all that is
required. The end is important, not the means. It is interesting that the
E.U. has said election monitors are not necessary. This, though, is not
linked to a belief that there will be no problems at the polls. Rather,
Europe, which is determined that sanctions end and massive development
proceed, is itself trying to censor news of poll irregularities that would
force it to delay or even terminate its anti-sanctions drive.
Other repression in Burma
The idea that free elections justify ending the sanctions is based on an
implied assumption that other conditions in the country are satisfactory.
As the following list makes clear, other than ingratiating itself with Daw
Suu and the International Community, Burma’s military regime is still as
tyrannical as ever.
The first issue here is not only freedom of speech for candidates, but for
ordinary people as well. The monk Ashin Gambira was detained and is now
being charged, reportedly for entering a locked monastery. But U Gambira
has been outspoken about the lack of real democracy in Burma, how many
monks are still being held as political prisoners, and how monasteries
remain closed, now some four and a half years after the Saffron uprising.
Similarly, another prominent monk, Ashin Pyinnyar Thiha, has been banned
from preaching. Moreover, all of this has been accepted by the elders of
Burma’s Buddhist council, the Maha Nayaka, who are blocking the
re-ordination of the monks who have been released, and who seem determined
to continue their long-standing support of the military regime.
Of course, even though many prominent political prisoners have been
released, one thousand or more prisoners of conscience remain. Indeed, it
is astonishing that the NLD has disputed the assessed totals of political
prisoners tracked by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners
(Burma), which has assiduously worked to identify and help them and their
families since 2000. Not every political prisoner is a recognized
dissident. Villagers who stand up for their rights and are then arrested
are political prisoners as well, as are any individuals who are detained
by the regime for any reason other than overt criminal activity.
The fact that Burma has so many political prisoners destroys the argument
that the NLD winning a few seats in Parliament will signal that democracy
is truly on its way.
The most pressing problem, though, is the continued Civil War. It is
impossible to accept that the by-election has positive significance when
the regime continues to attack the ethnic minorities of the country. Thein
Sein ordered the Tatmadaw to cease and desist, but the commanders have
refused. Some commentators blame rogue generals - hardliners - saying that
a power struggle is underway. More seasoned analysts, though, argue that
the entire presentation is a charade. Thein Sein is a hardliner as well:
Everyone in the regime, including in the Tatmadaw and Parliament, is a
hardliner. All that is occurring is a sophisticated good cop/bad cop
presentation, orchestrated by the only person in Burma who has real power,
Senior General Than Shwe. The puppet theater is being used to mollify
regime opponents, and to provide support to regime apologists including
Asean, the E.U., international corporations, biased academics and retired
diplomats, and business press such as the Financial Times. The surface
objective is to get the U.S. to end its sanctions, but the deeper goal is
to create a drawn-out pseudo-democratic transition - commercial
development before political change - that ensures that the generals and
their cronies own all of the significant business interests in Burma, that
such interests can never be seized, and, most critically, that they will
never be tried for war crimes and other human rights abuses.
Right now the regime is fighting the Kachin Independence Army in Kachin
State and northern Shan State, the Shan State Army in southern Shan State,
the Karenni Army in Karenni State, and both the Karen National Union and
Democratic Karen Buddhist Army in Karen State and Tenassarim Division.
(Even though the conflict has died down in a few areas, it can re-ignite
at any time. The word out of Karen State is that Tatmadaw troops are
acting like conquerers, and preparing for future offensives.)
All of this fighting has been accompanied by Burma Army-perpetrated human
rights violations. Villages have been bombed and women have been raped,
for the latter most recently at the Kachin front and in Karenni State.
Many ethnic villagers have been detained. Returning to an earlier point,
they are all political prisoners, as is KNU leader Mahn Nyein Maung.
Indeed, the women who are known to be being held as sex slaves by Burma
Army units at the Kachin front, and forced to undergo gang rapes every
night, are the most persecuted individuals in the entire country. I would
argue that their freedom is actually the most important issue in Burma. It
is intolerable that anyone would be subjected to such unspeakable torture.
The by-election should not even be held until their whereabouts are
determined and they are freed, using whatever level of force is required.
The regime has responded to this by saying that it will not allow an
inquiry into its atrocities in the ethnic areas, and further that its war
with the Kachin may last three more years. The former is deplorable (as is
the U.N.’s refusal to investigate), and the latter is ridiculous,
considering that it is the Tatmadaw itself which is wholly responsible for
the conflict. The generals are basically saying, we will continue to
attack the Kachin for at least the next three years, or, more practically,
until we defeat the KIA and our Chinese allies can restart the Myitsone
Dam.
The only acceptable response is that the Tatmadaw immediately cease its
offensives and dismantle all its camps in the ethnic areas. To local
villagers these camps are terrorist outposts, akin to al-Qaeda camps.
There is no solution to the conflict other than their complete removal.
Earlier this month, Daw Suu said that Europe and the U.S. should delay
their decisions about the sanctions until after the by-election. She
should in no way certify the regime’s fraud. Even more, she should stick
to the position that the sanctions not be eliminated, or even reduced,
until the Tatmadaw stops its war of aggression against Burma’s ethnic
minorities, and frees all the political prisoners.

Friday, February 24, 2012

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EknTt3aCDKc&feature=relmfu
VOA interview by U Ronnie Nyein
summary:
The first interviewee compares what little he got from the Burmese government (about $6 lump sum payment and about $1 per month in pension, which was cut off when he joined the National League for Democracy, with the Disability pension he receives from the US Government in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where he lives.

"How to get away with murder, a step by step guide book by Naypyidaw regime
1. First hire a PR firm from NY to give your SLORC a kinder softer name SPDC.
2. Be so mean and nasty that when you release a person, or allow UN
emergency aid to dying victims of the Cyclone, it is applauded.
3. Who cares about the rest. Because you are working on it.
4. Own a country with natural resources as if it were your
stepfather's whorehouse. 5. Sell them to highest bidder after meeting
in golden presidential palace.
6. Make sure you and your buddies make more money this way.
7. Use flattery and stroke bloated egos and delusional patriotism.
8. Bring along locals to run your show but not to have control over it.
9. Allow former enemies of your state, or whorehouse, to come back
and bring their foreign development funds to make them feel better and
make you look good.
10. Some of them might even pimp for you: They will repeat how open
your regime is, or there is nothing to complain, or there is ground
for "cautious optimism" while the minorities are slaughtered.
11. Allow some wealthy to give charity to humanitarian causes because
you do not have enough money to support the citizens of Burma, what
with all the private things you and your families need.
12. Make sure that all the past is forgotten and ensure that your
constitution makes this possible.
13. Just move on to a better place, and leave the population with
massive foreign debt by the tune of billions.
14. And hold by-elections, throw crumbs at the desperate opposition
and let the West have the bones."

Datura - a flower poisonous in all its parts - photo Copyright Kyi May Kaung

Sunday, February 19, 2012

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlTTD0kwCcg&feature=related
3 part interview from DVB.
I did not however like what he said about having campaigned 30 years ago so "Chinese" i.e. those holding FRCs or Foreigners' Registration Cards could not go to medical school.
I think that is racist.
Kyi May Kaung

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

http://www.8888peopletoday.net/
On 12th Feb 1992, in Pajau on Burma-China Border,
15 people were accused of being SLORC spies and tortured and executed by ABSDF (Northern Burma). ABSDF is an armed student group set up in 1988 by university students who fled Burma after the clampdown on 18th Sept.
Some alleged perpetrators and several survivors are still alive.
This performance was staged by artist Soo Myint Thein (spelled phonetically) at the recent merit sharing ceremony in Rangoon, Burma.
*

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Moe Makha Plant
in
http://www.fpif.org/articles/moe_ma_kha_plant
This happened in jungle among rebels, I am unsure which.
Naing Win Swe died in battle, his comrades having no time to bury him, "just covered him with wild flowers".
It was the first poem I introduced and produced/broadcast on my Poems of Those who Love their Country, in 1997. Weekly program went on for 3 years.
It has also appeared on another international poetry website (not available now).
Kyi May Kaung

Dear Linda
please feel free to use this on the Memorial Cards and to read at the Service.
So long as my name is on the bottom in small print it is fine.
I don't know why the email is typing like this. I did not change to Plain Text as formatting would be lost.
Sincere Condolences
Kyi May
http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/voss-jan.html
A veteran of five space flights, Dr. Voss has logged over 49 days in space, traveling 18.8 million miles in 779 Earth orbits.
Dr. Voss first flew on STS-57 (June 21 to July 1, 1993). Mission highlights included retrieval of the European Retrievable Carrier (EURECA) with the Shuttle’s robotic arm, a spacewalk, and the first flight of the Spacehab module. She next flew on STS-63 (February 3-11, 1995). Mission highlights included the rendezvous with the Russian Space Station, Mir, the deployment and retrieval of Spartan 204, and the third flight of Spacehab. She also flew as payload commander on STS-83 (Apr 4-8, 1997).

Moon Flower and Blood Grass - photo - copyright Kyi May Kaung/
Janice, I wish I had met you/
before the cancer got you./
I only ever met two other/
Astronauts in my life. One man and one woman/
about five feet tall./
You loved science fiction and square dancing./
Look down on us from your last/
Circling of the Earth./
Know, we miss you./
Copyright Kyi May Kaung

Tuesday, February 07, 2012

http://banknotesofburma.blogspot.com/
Banknotes of Burma Blog by Min Sun Min
U Kaung in the early banknotes was my father who was at one time Chairman of the Burma Currency Board.
In the early 50s.
Kyi May Kaung

MY VOTE! ای دشمن آزادگان، ای جمهوری اسلامی ایران ، ما بی شمارانیم
33 years of Torture, imprisonment, injustice, rape and stoning, taking out eyes from the socket, amputations, over 100.000 executions, oppression, suppression, 8 years of forced Iran-Iraq war with 1/2 millions death, drug addictions, poverty, lack of jobs and security... And more. After all these, is there anyone in favour of the ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN?

Image provided by Iranian Dissident
posted with permission.
Note: It says in Persian: Islamic Republic of Iran, you are the enemy of freedom fighters but we are so many and in abundance.

Friday, February 03, 2012

"We're basically dealing with the same creature, with slightly more enlightened posturing," said Zarni, founder of the London-based Free Burma Coalition, an activist group, who uses one name. "We shouldn't fool ourselves that the regime is driven by reformers.
"

http://www.amazon.com/review/R1UGSVAK6M3TYV
Red Sorghum: A Novel of China (Mass Market Paperback)
I read Red Sorghum by Mo Yan and translated by Howard Goldblatt about five years ago.
It is unforgettable and beautifully translated, though not an easy read as Mo Yan writes about a grandmother in the voice of her grandson, so the time shifts are sometimes jarring. Most of the story is in flashback. I have not seen the film.
However, many scenes are unforgettable.
A great work of international literature.
Yes, I don't usually like to read "Chinese" or "Burmese" or whatever fiction written by writers who base it all on research, not on life.
Red Poppy by Alai, a Tibetan writer who writes in Mandarin, also translated by Goldblatt, is also excellent.
Kyi May Kaung
See your review on the site

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